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A Buddhist monk and his nephew are being held in Sichuan province on suspicion that they “recruited” eight Tibetans and talked them into setting themselves on fire in protest against Chinese rule.

The detention marks a newly aggressive attempt by China to collectivise responsibility for a spate of protests in which more than 90 Tibetans — from young mothers to teenaged monks — have perished in pillars of flame.

Police have also accused the monk and his nephew of carrying out their campaign of incitement on the instructions of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader who has never formally condemned